


the tattoo artist/flower shop fic we all deserve

by AssyEr



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Marius organizes a mutiny in a bank, its not important to the plot or anything, just wanted to mention it, no beta we die like men, you know how it goes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssyEr/pseuds/AssyEr
Summary: He looked at his friend, trying not to laugh. “You, a flower shop?” He was sure he was capable of killing even a plastic cactus.“I am changing it!”“I would like to see you convincing Carmilla,” Nastya said, a smile at the sides of her lips.“I will!” he told her, closing both hands into fists. A fucking flower shop.Brian had taken advantage of the distraction, inspecting the list closely. “Looks like we’ll be neighbors.”“No we are not”Nastya took a picture with her phone, and sent it to both Jonny and Brian. “Come on, let’s see what the others got.”
Relationships: Drumbot Brian/Jonny d'Ville
Comments: 28
Kudos: 87
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	the tattoo artist/flower shop fic we all deserve

**Author's Note:**

> One day I am going to have an idea as to what to put on the work title box, but that's not today

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Jonny, looking at the list in the wall.

“At least you don’t have a fashion shop,” Nastya told him, with an expression as disappointed as his. Then, to herself, “What does that even mean?”

The list they were sulking at was hanged in the wall, and it contained the places in which every student would do their internship. For a month, Carmilla had given them a place where they would have to work (for free!), and at the end of the experience they would have to hand her a complete report of their experience.

They couldn’t be more pleased.

“I’m sure she picked the worst possible scenario for each of us,” Raph said, looking at the place next to her name: Carpenter's Carpentry.

Brian pecked between the three of them, trying to catch a glimpse of the sheet of paper. “I don’t know, mine’s not _that_ bad.” Black Sheep, Tattoo Parlour. “Seems interesting. What did you got?” he asked Jonny.

“It doesn’t matter because I’m fucking changing it,” he put a hand over the paper to not let them read what it said.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” he tried to get his hand out of it, but Jonny’s will was strong. Brian pushed and punched but still he remained firm.

“He got a flower shop,” told him Nastya.

He looked at his friend, trying not to laugh. “You, a flower shop?” He was sure he was capable of killing even a plastic cactus.

“I am changing it!”

“I would like to see you convincing Carmilla,” Nastya said, a smile at the sides of her lips.

“I will!” he told her, closing both hands into fists. _A fucking flower shop._

Brian had taken advantage of the distraction, inspecting the list closely. “Looks like we’ll be neighbors.”

“No we are not”

Nastya took a picture with her phone, and sent it to both Jonny and Brian. “Come on, let’s see what the others got.”

In the end, Carmilla actually laughed at Jonny’s request of changing internship, and told him that the selection process had been completely random. Completely Bullshit.

But he hadn’t been the only one to try.

The Toy Soldier had been assigned to a museum. It did not like museums, too many bad memories it said when asked. Carmilla had known, because of how bad the excursion to it last year had gone, and also refused to let it change. It had been Raph who proposed swapping roles with it in secret, pretending to be each other. It’s not as if they have any picture, she had said. She had some small carpentry, so it was a win win situation.

Seeing what his friends had done, Jonny tried to swap too, but absolutely no one wanted to work in a flower shop, except Brian, who had already stopped by the parlour earlier to present himself and ask if there was anything he should have in mind, and so was out of question. Jonny hated him so, so much.

“We would be even taking the same bus”, he told him one day, already arranging a way to get there.

Jonny hummed in response, in a bad mood at the mention of next week’s events.

“It’s not that bad, you know,” Brian tried to cheer him up. “I meet the owner while I was there, mentioned that we were friends. He was very kind, told me about a park where we could go on breaks, and if it was hot he said we can stay in the back room.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Jonny said.

Brian rolled his eyes. He would just text him what bus to get into on Monday.

Tim had gotten into Build-a-Friend, and independent and definitely not plagiarized shop with a similar stile to that of the Build-a-Bear chain, and Ivy into a jewelry store. Neither of them were… happy, with what they got, but Tim could now and then explode a plushie, and Ivy had managed to purposely make enough mistakes in every single task they gave her, that the manager had decided that it was more work to fix her wrongs that the one she actually got done, and so decided to leave her alone to read.

Ashes got a freaking water park. They took it as a personal challenge.

Carmilla had assigned Marius to a bank, thinking that the strict and formal place would manage to kill his soul day to day. She had been very, very wrong.

What she didn’t know was that Marius had long since sold his soul to the devil in exchange of a violin and half a burrito, and was having the time of his life in the banking business. His father had worked on one, and he had managed to catch enough of how it operated to get to know some loopholes in the system. A lot of loopholes.

At first they had put him in customer service, in a little boot to answer any doubt possible question clients might have. That had been… a bad idea, for now all those loopholes where publicly known, and new ones were being discovered every day. They had to rewrite at least half of their policy book. The only reason that they caught him was because the line on his booth was larger than the room.

The bank had now lowered him to coffee and photocopy services. Little did they know how much of a bad idea was letting him engage with all of its personal. A mutiny had already been arranged for next week.

The Toy Soldier was also enjoying itself. The owner, an old lady named Teresa, had said that she had never seen someone as skilled with wood at such a young age. Eventually she found out about its little secret, and agreed to say nothing. Half an hour later, she gave it a new name tag, and a smaller one that indicated its preferred pronouns.

Raphaella was also having a good time on the museum. Although not as fun as doing actual Science, she enjoyed giving tours, particularly watching the people who had no option but endure her rambles. She also tried to guess who would the first client to pretend having to go to the bathroom to never go back, and on her first day managed to get no less than fifteen people to “mysteriously disappear”. She was sure she could double that.

Brian and Jonny couldn’t share their break the first day, as someone had thrown up on the parlour and Brian had to stay to clean up. He had been assured that it wasn’t a common occurrence, but he was still a little upset, having been looking to catch up with Jonny and see if he already had managed to get himself fired.

At least they got to share the bus ride home.

“Apart from that, it was pretty cool. The owner is chill, and offered to make some retouching to my tattoo,” he said, referring to the one in his chest. “How was your day?”

“A piece of shit,” he groaned.

It hadn’t been that bad, actually. The man, some big guy named Martin, was the most stupidly kind person the teenager had ever meet. He had baked him snacks, in case he got hungry, and told him with a wink that he would be getting paid, but not to say anything to the school.

But Jonny would rather die than admit that he enjoyed himself. “I can’t wait for this to be over,” he told his friend.

Monday was a quiet day at the tattoo parlour. Jonathan, the owner (a very fun coincidence), had only three clients scheduled, and spent the rest of the time speaking with Brian and Georgie, the other artist. She had a girlfriend, apparently, and had commissioned an anniversary present with Jon’s husband, because she had no fucking clue of what counted as a romantic gesture, but still wanted to make her girl happy, her words.

“What about you?” Georgie asked him. “Do you have anyone?”

“Not, really, no,” he told her, taking a bite of one of the cookies Jon had brought them.

“Really? What about Jonn-“he was cut by an elbow digging into his ribs. Georgie’s elbow.

“Jonny?” Brian was surprised that they knew his name.

“Yeah, that boy” Georgie said, absentminded picking another cookie. “He is, like, the one that works next door, right?”

“Yes, he is, but how do you know that?”

The owner was quick to respond. Very quick. “Oh, I don’t know, you must have mentioned him some time”

Brian wanted to tell him that no, he had never told them his name, he was sure of that, when Georgie cut him.

“Anyway, why don’t you pass by, say hello from us,” she suggested. “You can even take the cookies.”

“What?” asked both Brian and Jon

She gave her boss a hard look. “Yes, why not. The day is going slow here, so not much you can do. I’m sure his boss won’t mind”

Brian wanted very badly to go. But there was still an hour left before his break, and he still wanted to know how did they know Jonny’s name. “Are you sure?” he asked Jon.

“Yes, sure”

If he agreed… He grabbed his jacket, heading towards the door.

Then, “he seems like a really nice man.” Brian froze in place.

“No he is not” he told the man. There was something going on here.

Georgie step between the two of them, cutting Brian’s visual. She grabbed a couple of cookies and put them in a bag. “Here, take this. There are enough to share,” she was practically dragging him to the door by now. “Good luck!” She closed the door behind him.

He stood in place, still processing what had happened. Did they think Jonny and him were together…? Brian liked Jonny, and yes, maybe he had taken advantage of his position next to the window to watch him rearrange the flowers outside the shop, but still. He hadn’t been that obvious. He hoped.

With a bag of cookies in hand, he marched to the place, having nothing better to do. Inside was Jonny, and he stood a moment next to the door to admire the picture.

Brian didn’t have to wear a uniform, informal dark clothes had been his only requirement, but Jonny hadn’t had the same luck. He had to wear the t shirt that they gave him, pastel pink with the name of the shop and some flowers, and an apron on top. Despite how old the thing was, he actually managed to pull it off, and Brian couldn’t get over how good the color looked on him.

He was currently having what seemed like a very agitated conversation with an old lady. It wasn’t Brian’s place to intervene, but he would do something if things got worse. He actually liked to have him as a neighbor, and knew that Carmilla would kill him if he managed to get sacked on his second day.

But things got resolved on its own. The lady shoved the bouquet he was holding into Jonny’s chest, and stomped out of the place. He made a face at her while she marched, and raised his middle finger from between the flowers, before going to a group of baskets and returning each one to its place.

It seemed like a good moment as any other to engage, Brian decided, stepping into the place.

“The fuck’re you doing” Jonny asked him when he saw him enter. “We agreed to the break at five.”

Brian took some flowers from him, helping him arranging them.

“Things were slow, so they told me that I could go if I wanted.” He took one flower, a red tulip, and smelled it.

“And what, your idea of fun now is watching me struggle?” he was definitely not distracted by the face he made, not in a million years.

“Always was,” Brian answered with a smirk.

Before Jonny could tell him what to do with that dumb smile, a kid came over.

“Sorry, sir? Do you work here?” the boy asked.

He let out a groan. “Regrettably.” He turned to Brian, throwing the rest of the flowers at him, and told him to be useful for once, while he saw what the minion wanted.

Brian watched him go, and then got to the bouquet. It was a nice one, good colors, but the flowers were all wrong. There were yellow roses, of friendship, with tulips, that represented love, and also some yellow carnations. If it had been Jonny who made it, then he should get some chart with the basics meanings. He was pretty sure he had a book, somewhere.

A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Can I help you with- Oh, hello! I wasn’t expecting seeing you yet”

Martin was now standing next to him, dressed with the same uniform that Jonny. He seemed surprised to see him.

Right, because he had a bouquet of flowers on his hands. “Hi. Um, sorry, things were quiet over there, and they say that it was fine if I crossed here for a moment. I offered to help Jonny, while he talked to a customer,” he lied.

The man smiled at him. “Its fine, is kind of a slow day for us to.” He gestured at the flowers. “Here, give me those.”

Brian gave the man the plants. Looking over his shoulders, he saw that Jonny was still talking with the kid, near a group of roses. So far, the kid seemed fine, nothing to worry about. He hoped that lasted.

“I have chocolate cake over the counter, if you want some. Jonny said he didn’t like it, so there’s extra portions” Martin told him, walking over there.

That was weird. “Jonny doesn’t like chocolate cake?”

The florist bended over, and from the furniture he got a plate with the slices already cut. “Cake in general, he said”

Right. Of course.

He remembered Jonny locking him up on the bathroom in a particular occasion to get the last piece of Marius’ cake. That mean bastard. The liar.

“That sounds like him,” he told him, not completely lying. “This is very good,” he added.

Martin laughed, apparently catching what he meant.

The cake had been homemade, Brian learned as they conversed. He offered the Martin some of the cookies he had brought in exchange, and asked for a receipt. It’s been a while since the last time he had cocked, he admitted, but would like to try again with something easy.

Jonny approached them after a while, cash on his hand.

“That kid needs better money management skills,” he commented while going to the register.

Brian turned around in time to watch the boy leave the shop, at least twenty individual roses on his arms. “I think is cute,” he said.

“Of course you fucking think so,” Jonny said, grabbing a couple of cookies and shoving them into his mouth.

Next Monday it was Jonny who crossed over to pick him up for break. He was still wearing his apron from the shop, and was actually some twenty minutes early.

“Slow day?” Brian asked him from the counter, while filling the reservations he had made into the excel schedule.

Jonny sat on the stool in front of him, and threw his bag over the other one. “Something like that. There was a guy with this enormous bouquet of roses, all rumpled out, and I am not dealing with that.”

He looked up from the computer at hearing his words. “Didn’t you sell those to him, telling him that they would, and I quote you, solve all of his problems?”

The asshole let out a laugh. “Yeah, I did,” he said, grinning.

Against his will, a small smile escaped Brian. “Just, let me finish with this and then we can go,” he told him.

“No problem!” Both teens jumped at the voice abruptly coming into the room. “I can finish for you, go take your break,” Georgie told Brian.

He did not want to know how long she had been there. “Are you sure? Jonny doesn’t mind waiting”

“I do,” said the man in question. Brian ignored him.

“Yeah, it’s cool. You guys have fun.”

Brian was sure that both she and his boss believed Jonny was his boyfriend. He had tried to tell them subtly that they were just friends, and then not so subtly, to no result. Or maybe they believed him, but… were they shipping them? Should he worry?

“You heard her, come on.” Jonny didn’t wait for him to say anything, grabbing his arm and getting out of the parlour.

They almost ran to the park they usually had break in, because Jonny was afraid that the man with the roses would get out and recognize him, or even worse, his boss would ask him what the hell he thought he was doing.

During that time Jonny asked him questions about his day, and pretended to hear the answer, while looking over his shoulder now and then.

“Finally,” he said when they got to the tree they usually sit by. They had chosen that spot per Jonny’s request, as it was near enough that they didn’t have to worry about getting late, and covered them from the shops’ view when they inevitably did.

What they had failed to notice, however, was that the city apparently watered the grass earlier that day, and everything was still wet.

“Let’s just go to your place’s backroom” Brian said, because he was not going to get his pants damp.

“No way. Here,” he got his apron off and threw it next to the tree, in Brian’s usual spot. “My lady,” he gave him a small reverence.

Brian rolled his eyes, but sat on top of it, reclining against the bark and extending his legs to occupy the entire surface. “And where are you sitting?” he asked him.

“Take a fucking guess,” and with that threw himself on top of him, gaining a grumble from him.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was not like Jonny had any respect or boundary on his tiny angry self. But a warning would have been nice.

Jonny squirmed a lot, trying to settle on his more-uncomfortable-than-fucking-metal body. To his credit, Brian only got hit by a wild elbow twice, with how much Brian there was to hit. Once he decided to be quiet, Brian crossed his hands over his stomach, and leaned his head on his shoulder.

He smelled nice, like flowers and dirt, and that weird perfume they had on his shop that was like vanilla but not quite. He resisted the urge to place a kiss on his neck.

“What are you doing?” he asked Jonny when he grabbed his bag.

From inside he got a small lunch box, and opened to reveal four apple roses inside. “Martin is still trying to find something to feed me. Figure that you might like them”

Brian did not want to think about how the fact that he got the pastries for him made him feel. Instead, he grabbed one, and gave it a bite. It was glorious.

“This awe- This are very good. Thank you,” he then gave him a kiss on the cheek just because he could.

As he had predicted, Jonny blushed a very nice shade of red, and rubbed his hand all over the spot to get rid of the sensation. “You’re fucking disgusting,” he told him.

He just laughed at him, and kept eating his food. “You know, maybe if you even tried something he made you he will stop. You told him that you didn’t like, what, cake, chocolate, butter, donuts,”

“Fruit,” he added to the list.

Brian shook his head. “You’re unbelievable” He took another rose. “I won’t tell him if you eat one, you know,” he tried to tempt him.

“I don’t like fruit,” he maintained his lie, going for his phone.

Brian saw him open the group chat. There were some messages unread, and he knew that he hadn’t seen any of those. “What are they saying?” he asked Jonny.

“Um… the usual. Marius’ mutiny is apparently going well” he read.

“That was today?” he remembered that he had been talking about leading a revolution, but he had thought that was until next week. The man was efficient, he admitted.

“He sent a video,” he played it, making sure Brian could see from his shoulder.

The video showed indeed a revolution. The doors were blocked with desks and chairs, and people were singing some version of Our Boy Jack, but changed it so instead of Jack and Roses they said Bill and bankers. Whoever was holding the camera seemed to be jumping to the tone, and in one moment it focused on Marius playing the violin, dancing slowly in the middle of the chaos.

“Who’s Bill?” Jonny asked.

Brian thought for a moment before answering. “I think it was some guy they sacked”

“Nice,” Jonny commented.

The rest of the messages were of the band cheering Marius’ revolution, and some reports on what they were doing. Tim had apparently gotten banned again from using the filling machine for exploiting too many plushies, something neither the children nor the shop appreciated. However, he had been given a tagging gun, and was now ready to convert it into a weapon (suggestion appreciated).

Ashes had burned another water attraction, somehow, and had sent a lovely gift so they could appreciate their glory. Raph had been confined to the basement of the museum, where she couldn’t talk to anyone, but she had found some weird tunnels that lead to different places in the building, and was now trying to make people believe the place was hunted.

Ivy and the Toy Soldier said that they were having the time of their lives, and seemed to be the most inoffensive persons in the group.

“I can’t believe they are having so much fun without us,” Jonny muttered, angry.

“We are not burning anything,” Brian told him, just in case. “Should we tell them what we are up to?”

“We are not up to anything” he groaned. “This is so fucking boring”

Brian grabbed the bottle of water from Jonny’s bag he had put in earlier. “Well, I’m getting my tattoo retouched,” he mentioned.

Jonny turned back to him. “What? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He put down the bottle, fidgeting with the cap.

“I just got confirmed, Jon told me to take it as payment for the work. It’s next week, after work”

He grabbed the bottle from his hand, taking a drink from it. “I’ll stay with you” he informed him.

“No you aren’t” he tried to correct him.

“Oh come on. I want to see how they puncture you,” he left his phone down.

Brian looked at him, trying to see if he was serious. “Is for that kind of comments you are definitely not staying”

He pouted at him. “What if I promised to behave?”

An idea came to him. He looked at the man on top of him, and then at the box with the pastries. “If you promise to behave,” he told him, “ _and_ , if you eat one rose and tell Martin it was good” He smiled at his disgusted face.

“I am not eating that,” he wrinkled his nose.

“Oh, come on,” Brain grabbed one and held it in front of him. “Just one bite. I will even let you take pictures” he offered.

Jonny looked at the food, and then at Brian, suspicious full on his face. “I’m going to film the whole thing,” he warned.

“Of course you will” he dangled the rose a little.

Taking a moment to get courage, he breathed deep, before stretching his neck and taking a minuscule bite. He was quick to bite and shallow, almost choking. Brian laughed at him as he drank half of his bottle.

It was Wednesday, much to Jonny’s dismay, because Wednesday was the day the shop received a new cargo of flowers. This meant, by extention, that he had spent almost half of the evening unloading and arranging the plants. By four thirty, he was covered in dirt and pollen.

When the truck finally left, Jonny sat down on the parking lot, completely exhausted. It was a damn hot day, and he wished he had something to drink.

“Everything went fine with the flowers?” a voice from behind him said.

Jonny groaned. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was stupid Martin with his stupid cheeriness.

Apparently, the shop owner took the groan as an invitation, sitting on the street next to him. He had brought a tray. “I made biscuits,” he offered.

He didn’t even look at them. “I don’t eat flour,” he lied.

“Oh,” Martin said, not surprised the slightest, and with a small smile on him. “Are you celiac?”

“No.”

There was a moment of silence, in which Jonny closed his eyes. When he saw that he was going to work in a flower shop, the last thing he had expected was doing all that lifting, who knew fucking flowers could be so heavy? Anyway, it was too hot right now, and there was no way he was moving. Whatever Martin wanted would have to wait.

“Okay then,” the man in question said, getting up at seeing the conversation was going nowhere. “You can just start your break now, if you want, I’ll hold the fort.”

And with that, he marched. “Finally,” Jonny mumbled.

Once he was sure he was far enough, he dared open his eyes. Next to him, there was a bottle of water. He took it and drank all of it, refusing to even think where it had come from.

He should move, probably. He was in the middle of a parking lot, after all, and a car could pass over him.

Well, let it pass. He laid down, looking at the sky. There was a tree a meter or so to his left, and its top made a nice shadow over him, giving him some relief from the unforgiving sun. No, there was no way he was moving. And if a car ran over him and killed him, at least he wouldn’t have to see a fucking flower ever again. A win-win situation, if you asked him.

His view to the sky was suddenly blocked by a familiar head. “It’s already sulking time?” Brian asked.

“It fucking is,” Jonny answered him. “Now move over, you’re blocking the view”

Brian sat next to him. “I _am_ the view,” he couldn’t resist telling him. Jonny gave him the finger. “Martin told me you would be here. Can we go to the park?”

He closed his eyes at the thought. “I am not moving,” he informed.

Rolling his eyes, Brian got his jacket off, folding it. “Whatever,” he offered him the folded cloth to use it as a pillow. Jonny raised his head a little, and he put it under.

Once he had settled, Brian decided to follow his example, and also laid in the floor, with his head on the man’s stomach. It certainly did for a better pillow, he thought, looking at him from his new position. A nice view, too.

Jonny had lately forgot to shave, it seemed, so he had some poor excuse of barb, if it could be called that. There was no form to it, and some hairs were longer than others, barely existent. This was particularly noticeable as he spoke and moved his jaw and cheeks, and there was that small place where he had cut the first time he tried shaving, a thin white line where no hair grew anymore. Brian had no idea of what he was saying, and couldn’t care less.

He could also see from where he was the piercings and studs of his left ear, filling all available space. Jonny loved those shiny things, a fucking magpie he was. He bet that he was wearing an equally shiny belt right now.

Which reminded him. “I got you something” he told him, interrupting whatever rant he was having.

“Uh?” Jonny asked, watching him sit up and look into his pockets.

From the right one of his jeans, Brian got a small plastic bag. “We also had new merch come in today, and Georgie said that I could keep something if I wanted to. Thought you might like this,” he gave him the bag.

Driven by curiosity, Jonny sat up and inspected the contents. There, covered in bubble wrap, was a belt buckle. It was gold and silver of color, with figures of gears and bullets. A small shine decorated the base of it.

It was of a fair size, and kind of heavy, and Jonny absolutely loved it. He looked up at Brian, a little frustrated “I… uh, thank you, this…” Not knowing what else to say, he gave him a fast kiss on the cheek. “I like it,” he finished.

Brian’s grin filled his face. “I’m glad you do,” he said, proud of himself. Jonny looked away from him, biting his lip.

Brian decided to take the man out of his misery. “Anyway, what did you tell Martin you hated this time?” he asked.

“Fucking flour”

He laughed at this, and Jonny smiled a little at the sound.

“I can’t believe you cried!” Jonny mocked at him, rewatching the video. “They barely touched you!”

Brian grabbed his phone, pausing the video. “They were just a few tears! Besides, I would like to see you getting tattooed on the chest.”

They were on the bus, going back home after staying an hour more on the parlour so Brian could get his retouching. As promised, Jonny had been allowed to stay and even record the whole experience. That did not mean that he almost got kicked out of the room, after making a comment of wanting to hit him on the bleeding places, and Brian had to assure his boss that yes, that was the kind of humor normal for his friends, and that he really doubted he was going to do it. It did not help that Jonny immediately jumped on defense, saying that he was capable of doing so.

“Don’t delete that!” Jonny told him, trying to get his cellphone back.

Brian just had to extend his arm to get it out of his reach. They were the only ones on the bus, late as it was, so he was not worried about annoying anyone. “I won’t, I won’t,” he assured him. “At least it wasn’t me who just stared at my abs, calling them metal hard.” Brian laughed at the memory, until actual tears filled his eyes.

“Yes, yes, very funny” Jonny grumbled, deep red on his face. “Ha ha, you’re such a comedian”

He had to punch him in the arm to shut him up (careful to not hurt him on the chest).

The bus was getting near to Brian’s stop. He gave his friend his phone back, standing up to go to the exit. “This is my stop, so. See you,” he told Jonny.

Jonny stood up. “Wait!” he told him, before he could stop himself.

Brian turned around to see him suddenly nervous, fidgeting with the phone on his hand. “You don’t, uh, need help with the thing, or anything, right?” he asked him without looking at his direction, referring to his tattoo.

He let out a short laugh at his friend inexperience. “What? No, it’s fine, it’s just going to be sensible for a couple of days, but nothing bad.”

Ashamed, Jonny went back to the seat. “Yeah, right, forget I said anything” he mumbled.

Was he…? Did Jonny felt hurt? Lying was wrong, but Brian was sure they could hang out without recurring to one. “Hey, do you want to have pizza at my place? I can pierce your ear if you want, I remember you mentioning getting a new stud,” he offered.

The velocity in which Jonny looked up would have ashamed him, if he had been aware of it. “Sure,” he said, managing to not make his voice break.

He got up, and they both walked to Brian’s while discussing what kind of pizza they were getting.

Today was the day.

Today’s date was the one that was circled in bright red in Jonny’s calendar, that he had made only with the purpose to quickly tell how long it was until the day. It was the date that he had been yearning for since he found out about it. It was the best day of the damn year.

Today, it was the last day Jonny d’Ville would have to work in the flower shop.

Jonny looked at his phone, checking for the time. Only thirty minutes until closing time. Until his freedom.

There was no customer inside. He wondered if he could just call it a day and close the shop already. Probably not. Not with Martin on the other side of the room.

Martin, who was coming towards him. Oh damn. If he started giving him a discourse of how much he appreciated having him here he would puke.

But he had been sharing enough time with the punk to know already that was the case. Instead, he spoke lightly to him.

“Last day, uh?” he prompted.

Jonny just nodded, gaze fixed on his phone. 28 minutes left.

“I won’t bore you with any speech, if that’s what worries you. I just wanted to give you this, and tell you that you earned it. And if you ever want to come back, there’s a free place that’s yours,” he gave him a white packet with a bittersweet smile.

He looked at it for a moment, confused, before grabbing and opening it. Inside there was money.

Right. He had told him he would pay him in secret. He just… hadn’t expected it to be so much. “Err, thank you,” he told him, uncomfortable.

“As I said, you earned it.” Then, when Jonny went back to looking at the screen, he added “I also thought that you might want to take a flower for Brian”

That caught his attention. “What? Why?”

“Well, he gave you that buckle, didn’t he?” he signaled to the belt he was currently wearing. “That’s from the neighbors. You could give him something from here, as a nice gesture”

Jonny thought about it. It would be appropriated, considering the present he was currently wearing. And Brian did like flowers, so it wasn’t like if it would be wasted money. “Right,” he said, searching for money to pay from the packet.

“What? No, it’s not necessary, consider it a gift from the house,” Martin joked. From inside, he told himself it was more of an investment.

Jonny looked surprised. “All right,” he told him, and went to check on the flowers they had on display.

There were… a lot. He was kind of lost, actually. A yellow rose? Yellow was Brian favorite color, and roses were a classic. He couldn’t go wrong with roses, probably.

He picked one, inspecting it for any rumpled petals or forgotten torn. “I don’t think you want that one,” said Martin from behind him.

He turned around to see him. “Why?” he asked, weirded out by the interruption.

Martin came closer to him, grabbing the rose and putting it back. “Yellow rose’s means that you want your relationship to be a friendship. You probably want a red tulip”

He stood on his toes to grab the flower in question, and gave it to his employee.

Jonny took it, weirded out. It was a nice flower, he supposed, nice shape. Brian had smelled one that day he came to help him, he remembered, so he probably liked them.

A moment later, he saw a small label tied up to it, with the meaning of the flower. Red Tulip, true love, it said. He almost dropped the thing.

“We… He and I, we are friends,” he said, scandalized.

The florist laughed at him. “I figured, but you want to stay like that?” he honestly asked.

The response was impulsive. “Yes?” then, “I mean, yes!”

Martin chuckled at him. “Then, give him the rose. I think we can call it a day already, and your friend is waiting outside,” Jonny turned around to confirm that, indeed, there he was, waiving his fingers at him in a hello. “I’ll go to the back, there are a few things I got to do, but you are free to go.” He gave him a smile. “Goodbye, Jonny, and good luck,” he was going to miss him.

“Err, right, goodbye,” Jonny said, looking everywhere but Martin’s face.

He gave him a clap on the shoulder, and parted.

Jonny stood alone in the shop then, with a tulip in hand. He turned to see Brian outside, looking at some flower decorations Martin will definitely have to enter on his own because he told him he could consider the day finished already and he is taking that gift.

He had gotten himself a top hat, or something like that, and had already put some patches on it. He looked… cute.

Jonny looked at the flower he was currently holding. They had had fun the other night, he even got his ear pierced in two different places.

Brian was kind, and gentle. A good person (unlike him). He would never be cruel.

And besides, he could always say that he had no idea of what the stupid thing meant. It’s not like he had been good at his job, or anything.

He got rid of the label, and grabbed his bag to go outside.

Brian smiled at him as soon as he saw him. “Ready to go?” he asked when he got to him.

He ignored him, practically shoving the tulip into his chest. “Here, for you,” he kept a very straight face, trying to ignore the sure blush he must have right now.

“Oh?” Brian said, and then grabbed the flower. His face practically transformed into an expression of pure childish happiness as he smelled it, and Jonny knew that seeing him like that was worth whatever shame would come for him later.

“Thank you,” he told him, and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

Jonny d’Ville would be fine if his stupid pacemaker would do its job and slow his heart down to normal rhythms, thank you very much.

But then, because nothing could go fine for Jonny, Brian asked the question. Biting his lip in an attempt to control the hopeful smile that threatened to escape him, he said “Do you know what it means?”

No, he should say. Of course not Brian, I’m not a fucking nerd. I am not a good florist. How the fuck should I know.

“Kind of,” is what he told him instead, not looking up in case the worst happened.

He could practically hear his heart thumping, goddamit. He should get a refund.

That’s when he felt something on his lips.

Brian was kissing him, or not kissing him, but had kissed him on the lips in a very soft motion he almost didn’t register it (what was wrong with him the guy was in front of his face and he almost missed it) and was now temptingly waiting to see what he did.

Jonny kissed him back.

The boys had left half an hour ago, and Martin had just finished entering everything into the shop. He got out and closed the doors behind him, and crossed over the tattoo shop.

“We are closed!” said a familiar voice inside.

“It’s me!” he answered back, going to the back to find the owner.

Jon was finishing some sketches, it seemed, probably for that Elias client of him, Martin guessed. He had already gone through at least five different models, and none of them seemed to satisfy him. In his most humble opinion, he sounded like a dick.

He sat down next to him, on the familiar couch. “Did you saw what happened?” he asked him.

The artist hummed, and then put down the pencil and paper, having finished for the day. “You owe me twenty bucks,” Jon told him.

“What? No, Jonny did definitely declared first” he argued.

Jon scoffed. “He gave him a flower. Friends can give each other flowers. It was Brian who kissed him”

Martin got up, crossing his arms. “It wasn’t _any_ flower. It was a red tulip. It’s a love flower”

Before Jon could say anything, a voice cut in the conversation. “Just pay your husband what he is owed, Jon!” Georgie said.

Recognizing being outnumbered, and ignoring the satisfied grin of Martin, he got out his wallet and payed the man the bet. “Happy now?”

“Very,” he answered, putting the money away on his wallet.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote this for the Writer's Month challange, for the prompt tattoo artist/flower shop AU for August 1st. The idea is to write a fic every day for the entire month, and I tought to give it a try. If it sounds interesting for you, you can find them on tumblr like writersmonth. 
> 
> If you got this far, just know that I'm sending you an imaginary yellow rose.


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